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Rholan the Unnamer
was a major historical character in the Imager Portfolio universe. He was a physically unprepossessing scholar, the bastard son of High Holder Niasaen of Tela, possessed of a deep, melodic, and mesmerizing voice and an intellect surpassed only by his own sense of destiny. He lived in the province of Montagne, and disappeared at age fifty-two traveling to Cloisonyt. Religion He was largely responsible for worship of the Nameless in Lydar. Gauswn thought that Quaryt Rytersyn was the second coming of Rholan, which Quaeryt found quite distressing. He apparently was largely responsible for the Aniconism of that religion. Some specific points attributed to him: * The greatness of Rholan the Unnamer lies not so much in his rejection of names, but in his affirmation of life beyond names and labels * Rholan, who said that a name did not equal deeds * Of an Anomen's (house of worship) walls: held no decoration or adornment, in keeping with the strict precepts of Rholan * the precepts of Rholan, because he was dubious about names * A name does not equal deeds and When the body is a slave to the name, both are servants of the Namer * every anomen is without adornment within and without because Rholan declared that adornment that serves no function and provides no use is a form of Naming * acts always triumph over names He was highly honored in Solidar, well over 800 years after his life. Around 755 A.L., a homily mentioned his name thus: we have all heard the stories about achievements and the purity of Rholan the Unnamer. Books about Relatively little was known about Rholan, possibly on purpose. More evanescent than morning fog, yet he single-handedly made Lydar a bastion of the Nameless Quaeryt Rytersyn found a book in Tilbora titled Rholan as Philosopher by "Ryter Rytersyn" (basically anonymous), which was written over a century prior. It theorized that Rholan is revered to this day, and doubtless will be so for generations to come as the voice of the Nameless, as the Unnamer, as the man who destroyed the sacredness of names, yet few, if any, have remarked upon the fact that he used common nouns, names, to do so … suggesting either conscious irony or even a great sense of humor … There was also a book at the Scholarium in Solis about how Rholan the Unnamer affected the way in which Telaryn is governed today. Another was Rholan, Synthesizing the Esoteric and Exoteric?, which included the following: Although so little is known of Rholan the Unnamer that he might as well be apocryphal, the stories and saying attributed to him are a remarkable fusion of the exoteric and esoteric, as if he were attempting to instill spirituality within the most pragmatic of human group functions and interactions.… Yet, for all the impact he has had upon history and belief, the man himself remains more evanescent than morning fog in summer.… We only know that he lived in Montagne and was presumably born there, although no records exist, and that he vanished after traveling to Cloisonyt in his fifty-third year, according to the historian Jletyr Vladomsyn … Rholan is the most famous exponent of the Nameless, yet we know almost nothing about him as a man, as if he tried, in fact, to be as nameless as possible. He was born in Montagne, we think, but do not know for sure, and lived there most of his life. He never traveled more than a two hundred milles from there, and he disappeared after traveling to Cloisonyt in his fifty-third year. Yet his words and acts changed all Lydar. Quaeryt found another book near Ferravyl: Rholan and the Nameless written in Cloisonyt, Tela, which indicated the volume had been written before Hengyst had conquered Tela and that the writer had likely lived in the time of Rholan or close to that time. In practical terms, Rholan has become synonymous with the worship of the Nameless. Therefore, to understand the appeal and growth of the cult of the Nameless, one must begin with Rholan. Already, the word has begun to spread that the man was mysterious and unknowable. He was neither. He was a physically unprepossessing scholar, the bastard son of High Holder Niasaen of Tela, possessed of a deep, melodic, and mesmerizing voice and an intellect surpassed only by his own sense of destiny … The book further described him as slightly above average in height, with black eyes and white-blond hair.Apparently, the characteristics of a Lost One His right arm was slightly shorter than his arm and crooked as a result of breaking it in his youth. References